Last Kiss
by illrain666
Summary: Happy ending? sequel to 'Kiss and Tell' kyro
1. Chapter 1

Last Kiss

Part One

"You have funny hair," John suddenly said from out of nowhere.

Kitty stopped biting the cap of her pen and looked at him incredulously. "Excuse me?" She didn't think she had heard him right.

"You have funny hair," he repeated. "It has this weird way of flipping over the right side of your face. There's other stuff, too. Like the way you would wrinkle your nose when you're studying really hard. Then you would kind of scratch your back from time to time instead of your head when you're stumped on something. I never really noticed any of that before."

She half-frowned, half-smiled at him in mild exasperation. "You have a really unique way with compliments, John," she told him.

He actually looked embarrassed. It was quite a disconcerting sight, John Allerdyce looking embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I'm terrible at this. You wanna break up with me now?"

She chuckled. Impulsively, she leaned over the pile of books between them and gave him a quick kiss. "I'm seriously considering it," she teased. "I mean, okay. I have funny hair. _You_ have girly handwriting that's so much nicer than mine. However can we make this work?"

"Hey!" He scowled. "I do not have girly handwriting!" He looked at the notes he had written down in a very neat script. Then he looked at the mess of ink on Kitty's paper. He nodded. "I see your point. This relationship is doomed."

That made her laugh. He thought she sounded so cute when she laughed that he was about to grab her and do some serious kissing when Bobby showed up and dumped his stuff on their table. He sat down without waiting for an invitation. "Hey, guys!" he said breezily. "Thought I'd find you here. I need answers for that trig assignment. Help me out, will you?"

"What the fuck do you need help in trig for?!" John exclaimed, extremely annoyed at his friend's bad timing. "I copy from you in that class." He was thinking about setting fire to a certain part of Bobby's anatomy when he was distracted from his intent by Kitty's surprised intake of breath. He suddenly realized that Peter Rasputin was towering over the three of them.

"Hi, Pete." Bobby's voice was very casual and light but the quick drop in temperature around him betrayed his tension. His eyes darted wildly back and forth from the silent Peter to the sulky John. He was clearly expecting a fight to break out between the two at any moment. And he had good reason to expect one.

Just a few weeks ago, Kitty was dating Peter. Then, God alone knew how or why, she had apparently fallen for John instead, her erstwhile tormentor and the same boy she had once publicly professed to hate with supernova proportions. Poor Peter had found out about it the hard and gut-wrenching way: he had caught them together, kissing. No violence had ensued then, thanks to Kitty's quick intercession when some very heated words started to fly, but the potential for a very interesting brawl between the two super-powered rivals still remained.

Since then everyone in the school had been waiting and preparing for the eventual explosion. Mister Summers and Mister McCoy went around placing fire extinguishers in strategic places while Miss Grey and Miss Monroe saw about reinforcing the walls, doors and windows. They also wrapped up some of the more expensive breakable stuff and moved them to the attic. Just in case. Sam Guthrie, for his part, was taking down bets on who would be the winner once the confrontation occurred. The odds at present were decidedly against John.

"Hi, Peter," Kitty greeted him shyly. She looked at John, silently begging him to be polite to the other boy, if not nice. He just looked rebellious, so she very obviously kicked him under the table.

"Ow!" He bit back a curse and glared at her, then he gave Peter a curt nod. "Hey, man."

"How are you?" Peter had also decided to be polite, for now. "I just came by to return that book I borrowed from you, Kitty. It's been with me for a while and you probably need it, too. Sorry I didn't give it back sooner."

"Oh, that's okay," she assured him. "Thanks, anyway, for returning it."

"Sure." The look he gave her then almost made John feel sorry for stealing the guy's girlfriend. Almost, because he was actually very glad that she had picked _him_. "Well, see you around." With one last glance at Kitty, Peter left.

As soon as he was gone, Bobby let out a deep breath of relief. An icy mist came out of his mouth when he did it. "Damn!" He frowned at John. "Why does your love life have to be so complicated?"

"Suck it, icedick!" he retorted.

"John!" Kitty frowned at him disapprovingly.

"What? Listen," he said to her. "I know you don't want the two of us to fight each other. But the fact is that he hates my guts and I pretty much hate him back."

"You don't have any reason to hate him," she pointed out. "He was the one who got hurt. _We_ hurt him. We made this mess."

"Well, why don't you fix the mess? Go back to him if you care so much!" He stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair down. Giving the table a spiteful shove, he walked out.

"John!"

He broke into a run. He didn't want her coming after him. He knew he had acted like a jerk. He couldn't help it. Because it wasn't true what Kitty said that he had no reason to hate Peter Rasputin. He had every reason to hate the guy. He hated him because, though Kitty was with him now, she had been with Peter first. She had kissed him first, chosen him first, loved him first. And he dreaded the day when she would come to realize that she would be better off with him than with her lousy second choice. That that day would come he had absolutely no doubt. It was just how the universe worked for John Allerdyce.

Disappointment, at least, had never let him down.


	2. Chapter 2

Last Kiss

Part Two

Kitty was waiting for him outside of his English class the next day. "You mad at me?" She smiled at him hesitantly.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" he countered. He couldn't believe it. He had been the stupidhead but she was the one making up with him. He _so_ did not deserve this girl.

"If you're not mad, I'm not mad," she said.

He shook his head. "I'm not mad."

"Great." She reached out and took his hand in hers. That little gesture did something to him that he was suddenly afraid to define.

"Did you cut class just so you could see me?" He gave her his most suggestive leer. When confronted with affection, ignoring it was his standard reaction.

"Like you're so irresistible!" she retorted tartly, but she grinned at him. "No. We had a test and I finished early so the Professor let me leave before everyone else."

"You are so smart it's sickening sometimes." She only rolled her eyes at him. One of the things she had learned about him since they had started going out was that John was more or less on permanent sarcastic mode. It was a terminal condition. And quite contagious if one was exposed to it for long enough.

"Get over the insecurity," she replied.

"Watch out!" someone shouted in warning.

They both turned to see a thick wood table hurtling towards them.

"Shit!" John yelled in surprise. He grabbed Kitty and started to duck out of the way but she reacted much faster. She phased them both and the table just sailed through them with a slightly nauseating whoosh.

Peter Rasputin stood there staring at them. He looked robotic in his steel skin, but his movements were smooth and purposeful as he stalked towards the two of them.

"Hey, asshole! Your problem is with me! Leave Kitty out of this. You could have hurt her, you buckethead!" John was furious.

Peter didn't reply. He just kept moving.

"John, something is very wrong," Kitty said. She sounded scared.

"No shit." He grabbed his lighter and took the fire in his hand. "I'm warning you, man. Come any closer and I swear to God I'll fucking melt you!"

"Fight!" Kids suddenly began appearing on the scene, all eager to witness the face off between John and Peter. The crowd picked up a chant. "Fight! Fight!"

"Stop this!" Kitty shouted desperately. Bobby, looking both frightened and excited, grabbed her and took her to safety. Jubilee and Rogue huddled close to her. "Someone stop them!" She was pleading but no one seemed to hear her. "Get the Professor!"

Peter was almost upon John. With a hoarse cry, John released the fire against his opponent. The flames slammed against the metal of Peter's body almost like a solid blow and he staggered back. But only for a moment. He slowly began to move forward again. Concentrating harder, John put more of his power into the fire, turning it into a huge devouring monster. But Peter still kept moving towards him relentlessly.

"He's gonna burn the school down!" Sam Guthrie screamed. That broke the other kids' absorption with the battle. It suddenly dawned on all of them that someone could get killed in this fight. Then there was panic. "The fire extinguishers!" Bobby hollered. "Get them!" Most of the kids ignored him and started running for their lives. Some of the more levelheaded ones followed Bobby's lead and did what they could to contain the conflagration.

"What the hell!" The teachers had finally arrived. "Bobby, I need your help!" Miss Monroe said as her eyes turned all white and howling winds blew the windows open. Rain lashed the two adversaries. John roared in anger as the rain and Bobby's ice overpowered his fire. Peter's metallic skin, which had been glowing red hot from the flames, began to steam and blacken. He suddenly collapsed. "My God!" Miss Grey was horrified. "Scott! Hank! Help me with him!"

John fell to his knees, too, completely drenched and exhausted. Kitty recovered enough from her shock to rush to his side. "John! John!" She kept saying his name as she cried and hugged him. He didn't even seem to be aware that she was there. He was staring at Peter's still form, looking sick.

"Oh, God. What did I do to him?"


	3. Chapter 3

Last Kiss

Part Three

"The telepath is back," Professor Xavier announced grimly. "I felt the traces of her power on Peter's mind. It was she who caused him to attack you."

John hung his head in sudden overwhelming guilt. "Is he gonna be okay?" he asked in a whisper.

"Peter has suffered from very serious burns," Miss Grey told him. "His condition is stable right now, but we'll be closely monitoring him for the next few weeks."

"It wasn't John's fault," Kitty spoke up. "He didn't know someone was controlling Peter. He even warned Peter to back off before they started fighting."

"Kitty, don't." He wouldn't even look at her. He was too ashamed.

"I'm afraid that it still does not excuse his actions." The Professor sounded deeply disappointed, and angry. "You've hurt one of your schoolmates and endangered the lives of others, John. I have to deal severely with you because of that."

He nodded. "I'll go pack my stuff." He started to rise from his seat.

"What? You're not kicking him out, Professor?" Kitty was starting to cry again.

"John, sit down please." There was a hint of steel in the Professor's voice. "I am not turning you out of the school. I want you to stay here. This is your home. But while you remain here, there will be rules that you must follow. I will discuss these rules with you later in private. For now, I want you to be confined to your room." He then turned to Kitty. "We will also have a discussion later, Kitty. The two of you are dismissed. You may walk to the dormitories together but stay in your respective rooms afterwards."

They were completely chastised by the Professor's cool tone. Miss Grey gave them a sympathetic look as they left the office, and John felt worse than ever.

Before the door to the Professor's office closed, John heard him say to Miss Grey that he was going to use Cerebro to try tracking the telepath again.

"John." Kitty looked very worried as she gazed at him. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm great! I'm not the one in the coma!" he said bitterly.

"Please. Please don't be like this," she begged.

"Be like what, Kitty?" he snarled. "My usual charming self? What the fuck are you doing here with me, anyway? Go to your room and leave me the fuck alone!"

"It wasn't your fault! I know you didn't mean to hurt him like that! You're not a bad guy!"

He suddenly grabbed her and slammed her against a wall. He was shaking with anger. "You," he said slowly, "are a stupid little girl if you really believe that."

"John, you're hurting me."

He didn't let her go. Instead, he tightened his grip on her arms till he was sure that it would leave bruises. "Then don't let me hurt you," he told her, his voice low and intense. "Phase through me and never let me hurt you again."

"What are you trying to say?" She remained stubbornly solid.

"It's over."

"What?"

He released her then. "It's over. I don't want you anymore, Kitty." It was amazing how easy it was to slip back into being the jerk she used to hate.

She shook her head. "You don't mean that." She tried to hug him but he moved away from her. "John, you don't mean that."

He smirked at her. "Of course I mean it. I already got what I wanted. I got to nail Miss High and Mighty Kitty Pryde. Well, actually," he looked her up and down appraisingly, "you're not all that high. Though you are certainly very limber."

She slapped him.

"I hate you." She said it like a curse.

He shrugged. "I really don't care, sweetheart." He planted an insolent kiss on her lips.

She pushed him away with a little cry of disgust. She wiped her mouth with her hand furiously, holding back tears of pain and humiliation. With one last glare at him, she walked away.

John watched her go. He hoped to God that this was worth it, because doing the right thing sure hurt like hell.


	4. Chapter 4

Last Kiss

Part Four

"Why the fuck couldn't I have been born with a useful mutation?" John wondered. "You know, like being able to turn water into vodka, or something. Any manner of alcoholic drink would be fine." He took a gulp from his soda, completely pissed.

Jones just looked at him, his chubby face very earnest. "What's wrong with you?" he asked curiously.

"What's usually wrong when a guy is still awake at four in the goddamn morning, watching reruns of Dark Angel?" he retorted.

"I don't know." Jones shrugged. "You've got the major hots for Jessica Alba?"

"Oh, my God, you have a personality?" John gave a short bark of laughter, then sobered in the very next moment. "This is so depressing."

"Why?"

He sighed. "Jonesy," he placed an arm around the kid like they were the best of friends, "I am going to share a very important fact of life with you that no one else will probably ever be honest enough to tell you."

The younger boy adjusted his glasses expectantly. "What's that?"

"It sucks."

"What sucks?"

"Life. Love. Pretty much every single fucking thing in the universe."

"Okay." He nodded then turned his attention back to the screen.

John patted him on the head. "That's the attitude. Just don't give a fuck." He finished the rest of his drink then belched. "I give up. I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight." Jones forgot all about him as soon as he was gone.

Rubbing his face wearily, John made his way back to the dormitories. The door to the bedroom he shared with Bobby suddenly opened and a slim figure crept out stealthily. He was very surprised when he saw who it was.

"Rogue?"

She turned to face him. He had barely enough time to register the strange blankness of her expression when she held a hand out and he was struck by a blast of cold and ice. "Shit!" The force knocked him into a wall with a loud crash as the impact shook loose a mirror hanging on it. The mirror fell to the floor and shattered.

"Brilliant," he grumbled as he got to his feet a bit unsteadily, careful to avoid stepping on the shards. "Let me guess. You're possessed, too."

Predictably, she didn't reply. She just started to advance on him with deadly intent. When he saw her eyes begin to glow a deep red with a power that looked suspiciously a lot like Mister Summers', that was it. He ran the hell away from her.

"Great. It had to be the most dangerous one in school." He cursed as he ran. Then a nerve-shattering wail brought him to his knees. He screamed in pain as he vainly covered his ears and every window in the mansion vibrated then broke into pieces. Just as he thought that his eardrums were about to burst, the wail was cut off. He forced himself to start running again. He moved just in time as a red beam of energy struck the exact spot where he had been immobilized by the hurtful sound a second ago.

"John! John! What's going on?" He saw Jones running towards him, looking panicky. "Shut up and go!" he yelled. He grabbed the kid's hand and they raced through the hallways together. His worst fear was that they were the only two people left in the school while everyone else had been subjected to Rogue's lethal touch. His heart almost stopped in fear when he thought of Kitty lying unconscious and helpless in bed as the possessed Rogue stole her powers from her. He almost cried in relief when they turned a corner and he saw Miss Grey.

"John, what's happening?" she demanded.

"It's Rogue. The telepath has taken over her," he explained.

"Oh, no. I never even sensed a thing. I've been in the med lab with Peter all this time." She was clearly rattled but she took charge as she was trained to do. "Where are the other kids?"

"My guess is they all got a taste of Rogue's skin," he told her. "She was coming out of our bedroom when I saw her and she attacked me with Bobby's power. I'm betting she must have done the rounds of the other bedrooms before that. She also tried to fry me with one of Mister Summers' eye blasts."

"Scott!" She looked stricken for a moment as she thought of the harm that had befallen her fiancé, then he felt her power as she did a quick mental scan of the entire school. "The other kids are unconscious. The teachers, too. I can't tell yet if they have suffered any permanent injuries from Rogue's mutation." Suddenly, she gasped. "The Professor! He's still in Cerebro and he's been hurt." She then moved into action. "All right. Here's what we do. I'll go after Rogue. The two of you go on to Cerebro and help the Professor. John, you're going to need this code to manually override the security system so you can get in." She gave him the code. "Go, and hurry," she ordered.

He nodded. He was still very worried about Kitty but, right now, he had been given a mission. "Come on," he said to Jones and they headed towards Cerebro. He input the override code as he had been instructed to do and the seal opened. "Stay here," he told Jones then he stepped into the room.

"Hey, baby."

Kitty was waiting for him inside.


	5. Chapter 5

Last Kiss

Part Five

He felt very cold. She was smiling at him, but it was nothing like Kitty's smile.

"You never call me that," he said inanely. He was reeling from the shock of seeing her there.

She looked confused for a moment and John hoped, he _prayed_, that his crazy suspicion was nothing more than a random thought. But then she grinned at him quite cheekily. "Oops."

There was a sudden stab of pain in his chest. "How long – " He found it hard to say the words but he had to know. "How long has it been you?"

"Oh. Let me think." She frowned thoughtfully. "How long has it been since I took over Kitty Pryde's body? Yeah, I remember. Do you really wanna try this?"

They were her exact words, what Kitty said to him when they finally decided to try having a relationship.

She laughed at his stunned expression. "Oh, come on," she chided. "Didn't you think it was the slightest bit out of character for her to choose you? She had already made up her mind that she was going to stay with Peter. She loved Peter. Sure, you turned her on, but a smart girl like her knew better than to get involved with a loser like you."

"No." He shook his head in denial, stung deeply by her words. "No!"

"Oh, yes," she nodded. She turned her back on him and poked at Professor Xavier's unconscious form in his wheelchair. "Not a bad day's work, don't you think?" she said conversationally. "I've disabled Xavier, I got the Rogue, and I paid you back for that little wrench you put in my plans a few months ago. I've never enjoyed mixing business with pleasure like this before." A soft moan of pain escaped from his throat and she gave him a pitying look. "Oh, baby. Don't be so upset. At least you got to score with Kitty Pryde. Isn't that what you've always wanted? Even when I was Camille and I let you do all those naughty things to that shapeshifter's body, you still kept thinking about her. Well, I've fulfilled all your fantasies about your little ghost girl, haven't I? You should be thankful. It's a shame, though, that she hated every moment of it."

Her face hardened and became cruel. As she continued to speak, she obviously relished every word that came out of Kitty's mouth. "Every time you touched her, every time you kissed her, when you stuck that disgusting little tongue of yours down her throat, I made her feel it. And it made her feel sick. She wanted to kill you for violating her, for making her dirty and worthless like you."

"Shut up!" he begged.

"Just look at you. You're worse than nothing. No one, especially not Kitty, could ever love a thing like you. Big bad John Allerdyce, always trying so hard to be tough. But let someone give you a shred of affection and you crumble. You're fucking pathetic."

With tears blinding his eyes, he struck her. She fell to the floor where she lay motionless for a second, and then she began to laugh. "You really are such a loser." She slowly got to her feet again and smiled at him. "I guess you take after your old man, huh? He had quite a temper, too."

"Shut up," he said weakly. He started to sob. "Kitty. If you can hear me, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"She hears. She doesn't care, sweetheart." Her expression was merciless as she watched him cry.

He looked at the creature who had destroyed all his hope. "I love you, Kitty," he whispered.

She seemed to falter for a moment. Then anguish crossed her familiar face. "John?" She said his name like a plea.

"Kitty?"

She growled in anger and tensed. Then she looked cold again. "You little bitch," she seemed to be talking to herself. She glared at him. "I've had enough of this puppy love shit. It's been fun, baby. But now it's time for the happy ending." She smiled. "For me, anyway."

And, as John looked on helplessly, she jumped off the edge.


	6. Chapter 6

Last Kiss

Part Six

"She could have lied," Bobby said quietly after John told him the story of those awful last moments.

"It's possible," he nodded. "I guess she must have really hated my guts to say all those things. And she really knew what things to say."

The entire school was still recovering from the events of that horrible early morning. The Professor was in some sort of catatonic state. They still had to figure out what the telepath had done to him to cause it. Rogue was missing. She had managed to knock out Miss Grey in their fight then she had disappeared. The students and the teachers she had touched were slowly regaining their strength and powers though some would be permanently weakened as a result of their contact with her mutation. The only bit of good news was that Peter Rasputin showed all signs of getting better every day.

John, though, did not care much for good news these days.

"I'm going after her," he said. Bobby knew that it was a vow. "I'm going after that bitch who killed Kitty."

"I'm going with you. I'm going to get Rogue back." As soon as he said it, Bobby wished he had bitten his tongue. Because John could never get Kitty back.

There was a soft knock on their door and Jubilee came in. "Hi," she said, sounding uncertain. The two boys had never seen her act like that before. "Uhm, Miss Grey wants me to pack Kitty's stuff. Her parents want the things sent to them. I was wondering – if you'd like to help. Maybe there are things that you'd like to keep, you know, to remember her by."

"For God's sake, Jubes! Don't you ever think?" Bobby glared at her, worried about how this reminder of Kitty's death would make his friend react.

To his surprise, John accepted the offer. "Sure. I'll help."

Jubilee let them into the room she had shared with Kitty. John's eyes were immediately drawn to the cluster of photographs taped on the wall of Kitty's side of the room. He had been in this room dozens of times; to study, to listen to Kitty's cds, to make out, and all those times he had been too distracted by the girl he was with to actually look at the pictures. So he made his way to them now. Watching him warily all the time, Jubilee and Bobby started putting away books and clothes into boxes.

There was a picture of Kitty and Jubilee during the last prom, both of them smiling and looking very pretty. Another one showed Kitty splashing Bobby in the pool. Then there was one of her giving a speech during those boring school programs held at the end of every term. Kitty at the mall, the museum, on the school grounds. Smiling, happy, alive. And there was a photo of Peter, clearly taken without the boy's knowledge since he was sitting underneath a tree in the garden, head back against the trunk and sleeping or daydreaming, John couldn't be sure which.

He suddenly realized with a pang that there wasn't a single photograph of him anywhere. Probably because he had always threatened to beat up anyone who came near him with a camera, an attitude everyone in school was very much aware of, including Kitty. But, she still could have insisted, couldn't she?

He sat down on her bed wearily. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all. He couldn't stand to be surrounded by all her stuff while the most important thing, her, was not here anymore.

"John. You okay, man?" Bobby asked.

"No," he answered. He lay down, feeling a bone-deep tiredness he had never felt before. Something hard was poking into his back. He frowned and sat up again. There was this one hard spot in Kitty's bed that had always bugged him. He had never figured it out though because he had always been busy doing other things with her than investigating mysterious lumps on the bed. Standing up, he got rid of the covers and the mattress and found a small journal.

"Hey!" Jubilee exclaimed. "That's Kitty's journal! I remember she was always writing in it during her first year in the institute. She never let me read it though, and it never occurred to me to look for it in such an obvious hiding place like the bed."

Bobby gave her an exasperated look. "Jubes, could you just hand me those cds please?"

They continued packing and left John to examine the journal.

Suddenly, they heard the strangest sound. Startled, they both looked to see John crying and laughing at the same time.

"John?" Bobby was very worried about him now. "Tell me you're okay."

He grinned at them. "I think I'm gonna be just fine."

He held out the journal to them. On one page, written in Kitty's childish scrawl, was the name of John Allerdyce.

She had bordered it with hearts.

The End


End file.
